When Meng Fuyao ran away just a moment ago, Yuan Zhaoxu
watched her lithe figure fly like a bird, vanishing into the light yellow
expanse of trees in the autumn mountains. He silently smiled, then with slow
steps he walked towards the Grand Tutor's horse.

"Your horse carriage can slowly travel, go along with
Qi Xunyi to Yanjing. I'll bring her and leave first, saves us from always being
inside those people's vision radius, possibly creating some kind of
trouble." [1]

The Grand Tutor squinted his old eyes and looked at Yuan
Zhaoxu, his expression like he was regarding his own favorite son or nephew.
Stroking his beard, he faintly smiled.

"Where are you going?"

"Also Yanjing. This time I borrowed your diplomatic
mission to Tai Yuan to celebrate Tai Yuan Emperor's birthday, just to deal with
Qi Xunyi. How could I miss this opportunity?"

"Ha ha ... as you please."

"Also from what I've heard, at this time's birthday
ceremony, he ... has also come."

"Ah? Hasn't he always been under house arrest inside
Nemesis Dynasty's capital? Nemesis' Emperor allowed him to leave?"

"A flood dragon trapped by limits, will only be for a
time. Once there is a chance, it inevitably will soar up." Yuan Zhaoxu
turned, thoughtfully looking towards the western horizon. His expression
contained some anticipation as well as some humor, seemingly even more radiant.
"And the great winds that will sweep through the Five Regions and soar
through the Four Seas, have already risen ..." -----------------

"Why did we separate from the main procession?"
Meng Fuyao setup the fire pit and raised a fire with deft motions, then neatly
skinned the hunted wild chicken with her dagger. "Also, why do I have to
go with you?"

Yuan Zhaoxu was leaning against an old tree, comfortably
lying down, while a spread of clean leaves was padded underneath his body.
Master Yuanbao had its butt sticking up, and was diligently pushing and
collecting fallen leaves, unceasingly trying to curry favor by piling up the
leaves under its master.

The way it pushed was strange and despicable. It faced
towards Yuan Zhaoxu, shoving leaves up to his body, while its fat stubby back
legs kicked the torn and dilapidated leaves and dirt backwards. The person
sitting behind it was Meng Fuyao.

At first, Meng Fuyao didn't want to keep squabbling with a
petty pet. After consecutively eating several mouthfuls of dirt, however, she
discovered that certain animals didn't know to stop before going too far, their
courage too fat and their minds too skinny. Thus she tore off a strip of leg
meat from the wild chicken, and took advantage of when Yuanbao was not paying
attention to fiercely shove it in its mouth.

Consequently, that certain herbivorous animal immediately
sprinted to the riverside to rinse out his mouth, and the side of the fire pit
was finally clean.

Only now did Yuan Zhaoxu reply to her question.

"If you are willing to be watched by a couple wolves
all day, you could choose to keep going slowly. Also, I don't recall that I
ever wanted you to come with me, you chose to follow me yourself."

Meng Fuyao thought a bit, it seemed that it really was the
case. She couldn't help but shamefacedly say, "Well its not like I can
help it, there's only one road from the Profound Origin mountains leading to
Yanjing after all."

Yuan Zhaoxu held back a smile while giving her a glance,
deciding not to remind the person that was trying to fool herself, that there
were actually other roads leading to Yanjing as well.

The tree branches in the fire pit burned with "pi
pa" sounds, lighting up the two people's flushed red faces like they were
drunk. A type of heated factor was transpiring in the air, making even the cold
moonlight shining from the distant trees seem a little warmer.

Opposite, that smiling man's long eyebrow slightly rose, his
pupils and hair shining black and wavy. A line of red lips burned redder than
even the firelight, his features vivid like a painting, so beautiful that it
entranced one's soul and caused them to harbor resentment that would last even
in the underworld.

Meng Fuyao sat straight, harboring resentment that would
last in the underworld. While staring downwards in embarrassment, she wondered
why extreme beauty always caused her heart to beat erratically.

Especially when that extreme beauty was always using his
eyes full of interest to sweep up and down her body, time and time again.

After sitting for a time and feeling that the atmosphere was
too oppressive to bear, she suddenly sprang up, saying, "I'm going to take
a walk."

Yuan Zhaoxu raised his head to look at the dark night, then
looked at the surrounding blackness of the forest. He really could not bear to
remind her, that this going for a stroll excuse was a little funny.

Meng Fuyao, upset by his understanding gaze that was tinged
with some humor, loudly said, "I'm going to sing."

This time, Zhaoxu lifted his eyebrow, his eyes full of
disbelief. Meng Fuyao smugly laughed, then went to "sing".

Because she didn't want to "sing" too loudly and
be heard by Yuan Zhaoxu, Fuyao walked a very far distance into the silent
woods, before she finally found a place to squat down. Her pants were
half-removed, when suddenly her hands paused.

The midnight forest was abnormally quiet. Besides some traces
of wind meandering around, even the night's owls were mute. The noises of those
normally soft chirping autumn insects, was now also nowhere to be heard.

From the branches above round moonlight scatteredly landed,
outlining her long shadow onto the ground. That shadow was split into sections
by the black outlines of the trees and rocks behind her, but it could still be
made out with difficulty.

Meng Fuyao half-crouched, still maintaining that pants
half-taken off position. Her fingers noiselessly shifted up little by little,
attempting to pull up her pants, while the corners of her eyes slanted and
examined her own shadow ... feet, hands, neck ... head, alright, there's the
head, that semicircle protruding out of that rectangular boulder on the side,
what was that?

Sweat formed on her palms, the moisture sticking on her
pants. Fuyao's heart jumped tightly, then loosely, drumming in the silent night
with "peng peng peng" sounds.

That was ... the top of a person's head.

With her fingers tightly gripping her pants, Meng Fuyao
silently scolded herself, just why did she have to run out so far by herself.
Behind that boulder was who knew how many people, most likely waiting for her
to take off her pants before taking advantage of the opportunity to move.

Right now, taking off her pants was not possible. Right now,
successfully pulling up her pants, would be determined by their reactions.

Fuyao half-squatted, her waist already sore.

That semicircle behind the boulder slightly moved, as if it
was a getting a little impatient.

Meng Fuyao calculated the time then dejectedly realized
that, according to this distance, if she chose to pull up her pants and fasten
her pant strap, her two hands wouldn't be able to be used. She definitely
wouldn't have time to deal with the opponent's attack.

With extreme nervousness brought extreme stillness. She
faintly heard a distant brook gurgle, or maybe it was the soft splash of a
bird's wingtip dipping into a pool.

In the black night Meng Fuyao's shadowy pupils darkly
turned. All of a sudden, she hatefully grit her teeth.

Her eyes sharply glinted, the ominous resolve found in them
not appearing in most other girls' attitudes.

Wind swept through from the forest's direction, bringing
with it a wavering of the shadows of the trees. The top of the head behind the
boulder also wavered a little.

Meng Fuyao's hands suddenly loosened, letting go of the pant
straps.

The pants immediately fell down, and at the same time her
long robes fell down and covered her shame with a "shua" sound. Meng
Fuyao executed a backwards somersault, flipping over the boulder like a large
bird. Her flexible body was like a spring, in a flash arriving at the back of
the large rock. With a kick of her two legs the pants fell off and landed
directly on top of the two heads behind the boulder. The two people didn't
expect Meng Fuyao to suddenly launch a counter-attack, so just when they jumped
up their heads were smothered by thick pants. In the darkness they couldn't see
clearly what it was, and one of them hurriedly reached out an arm to tear it
off.

Before he could complete that motion, Fuyao had already
appeared behind him like an evil ghost. Underneath baggy male robes long
snow-white legs flashed, in an instant twisting onto the opponent's neck. With
a revolution of her body, she fiercely wrenched in mid-air!

In the darkness, only a hair-raising crunch sound could be
heard.

The person's skull immediately drooped bonelessly.

A streak of severity flashed through Fuyao's eyes. She
didn't regret attacking with such ruthlessness, because in the instant when she
had flipped over the boulder, she had caught a glimpse of a net soaked in
poison held in their hands. That poison's color was a vague pink. In the past,
when Meng Fuyao was forced by that old Daoist priest to undergo his grueling
training, she had learned broad topics, and had uncommon strengths that most
people would have difficulty learning. With one look she had already identified
that thing as the "Weakening Fragrance Powder", spread throughout the
Five Regions Continent and specifically designed for upper-class nobility to capture
or deal with woman from good families.

Who knows how many respectable young girls had their innocence
destroyed, and how many young people had their entire lives ruined, just
because of that powder? Anybody who had this thing in their hands could only be
described as heartless and obscene. After seeing this today, how could Meng
Fuyao let them off easily?

The moment the other person saw that Meng Fuyao was actually
willing to disrobe to attack her enemies, moving so decisively and ruthlessly,
that in a flash his companion was already dead underneath a twist of her two
legs, he cast aside those pants with great shock and turned his legs to flee. Before
he could even manage to run a few steps, he heard a cold sneer from behind him.

"After seeing my thighs, you still think you can run
away?"

1. The "your" that Yuan Zhaoxu uses to talk to the
Grand Tutor is a respectful form of you, "您"